Gettysburg Address has lessons for today

It took President Abraham Lincoln just two minutes to deliver a speech that would last forever.

Interestingly enough, the Gettysburg Address — given 150 years ago Tuesday at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa. — drew only mild appreciation at the time.

Gettysburg was the scene of a significant Union victory, but one that came at great loss of lives. Four and a half months after the battle, a cemetery was dedicated at the site to those who had died there.

Lincoln wasn’t the main speaker that day. That honor fell to Edward Everett; Lincoln followed his two-hour speech. Even the president noted “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.” Some newspapers called the speech trite and “flat.”

Today, few people would fail to recognize the opening line of “Four score and seven years ago … “

Lincoln managed in this mere 272 words to reflect upon the war in the broad sense of what it meant to the nation, regardless of sides. In concise, simple terms he talked about the importance of the nation, the need to heal, and the importance of the people in a society to keep that dream alive.

That reflection of the symbiotic relationship between people and government is just as applicable today.

During the course of the nation’s 237 years — an infancy in the sense of governments — there have been ups and downs, good things and bad things. What has made the difference is how we, as a nation, have dealt with those.

Think of the cohesive nature of the nation in the face of great obstacles or tragedies.

Now compare that with the past few years, when the nation in many ways has become almost as divided as 150 years ago. Instead of calling up arms, the nation is mired in rhetoric. Instead of acknowledging and respecting differences, it seems the nation has become more polarized and less willing to compromise. Instead of worrying about the greater sense of “nation,” many groups are concerned strictly with themselves and getting everything they can.

It is as important today as 150 years ago we remember that we are a nation “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”